Louise Blouin Media

Louise Blouin Media is an art magazine and book publishing company based in New York City. Founded by Louise Blouin,[1] it publishes the magazines Art+Auction, Gallery Guide and Modern Painters. It owns Somogy, a French art book publisher, and the databases Art Sales Index and Gordon's.[2] Artinfo.com was launched in 2005 and later changed to blouinartinfo.com, which is now defunct.

Louise Blouin Media
TypePrivate
IndustryPublishing
Founded2003
FounderLouise Blouin
Websiteblouinartinfo.com

History

LTB Holding Ltd. was set up in 2001 by Louise Blouin.[3] Louise Blouin Media was started in 2003.[4] A website, artinfo.com, was launched in 2005[2][5] and later changed to blouinartinfo.com. It has regional editions in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Brazil, India, Russia and the United Kingdom.[6][7] The company acquired or started the Art & Auction, Gallery Guide, Museums, Culture+Travel and Modern Painters magazine titles and bought the databases Art Sales Index and Gordon's and the French art book publisher Somogy.[2]

In 2006 the company closed Spoon magazine, which it had recently bought.[8] In 2008, two years after it was started, Culture+Travel was closed down.[8]

Former Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman began writing for blouinartinfo in 2012.[9] As reported in July 2017, blouinartinfo had restructured and downsized after eliminating the entirety of the editorial team based in the United States. Blouin charged the company's Indian contractors with generating content, giving them fictional bylines to present the veneer of an international staff.[10]

Controversies

In December 2011, Louise Blouin Media was sued for defamation in United States district court for a September 16, 2011, article written by Noah Charney on blouinartinfo.com, in which he wrote that a forensic art expert "was part of a family of art forgers, and that he had been planting the forensic evidence into the questionable works himself".[11]

In 2010, an article in the New York Post noted controversy over payments to freelance writers for Blouin's arts publications. One group, WAAANKAA (Writers Angry At Artinfo Not Kidding Around Anymore), demanded back payments of $18,000.[12] In December 2013, Artinfo.com abruptly laid off 26 international employees. The New York Observer posted a 1000-word internal email from Blouin to staff explaining that the move was part of a new direction in which, "One person doing all and not good we need less of one but many more."[13]

In February 2014, the New York Post reported that two former executives were suing Blouin for $250,000 in pay and commissions.[14] In 2016 further reports emerged of the company failing to pay "about 40 journalistic freelancers money... with freelancers owed anywhere from $500 to more than $20,000".[15]

President David Gursky resigned in early 2017, following the departure of editors-in-chief of Modern Painters Scott Indrisek, and "Blouin Lifestyle" Karen Quarles.[16] It was reported that "at some of the publications, staffers began leaving the names of contributing editors off the masthead because it would have been misleading to pretend to have large staffs when many were not getting paid," and that "the work often used generic bylines to obscure the fact that it was being written overseas."[17] In January 21 it was reported that the remaining employees checks were bouncing and that the entire finance department of "one guy based in India... is scrambling to ‘fix’ the problem [by] sending PayPals to people who have no money."[18]

References
  1. Zena Olijnyk (December 5–25, 2005), Louise Blouin MacBain — The Art-World Aficionado, Canadian Business Magazine, archived from the original on March 18, 2006CS1 maint: unfit URL (link). Archived March 18, 2006.
  2. Anthony Haden-Guest (October 29, 2005), War of Vision on the Web (PDF), FT, archived from the original on December 8, 2010CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Archived December 8, 2010.
  3. "Louise Blouin MacBain — The Art-World Aficionado - Canadian Business - Your Source For Business News". Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  4. "AP Alternative Assets LP". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  5. Linda Sandler (March 27, 2006), Art Publisher MacBain Revamps Magazines, Focuses on New York, Bloomberg, archived from the original on October 8, 2007, retrieved August 23, 2013
  6. Dan Duray (April 13, 2012). Louise Blouin Announces Blouin Artinfo Brazil Archived November 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Gallerist. Retrieved August 2013.
  7. [s.n.] (November 14, 2012). Global arts and culture conglomerate opens India chapter Archived November 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. The Times of India. Retrieved August 2013.
  8. Joe Pompeo ([n.d.]). An Artful Dodger Archived July 17, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. DuJour. Accessed August 2015.
  9. Marc Graser (February 17, 2012). Ex-Voice critic Hoberman lands gig. Variety. Retrieved August 2013.
  10. Siegler, Mara (July 7, 2017). "ArtInfo used fictional bylines after outsourcing staff to India". Page Six. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  11. Adam Klasfeld (December 12, 2011). "Gawker Brought Into New Yorker Fracas" Archived February 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Courthouse News Service. Retrieved August 2013.
  12. Keith J. Kelly (July 16, 2010). Didn’t get paid by Louise Blouin? Get in line Archived August 28, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. New York Post. Accessed December 2013.
  13. Dan Duray (December 13, 2013). Blouin Media, Publisher of Art+Auction and Modern Painters, Terminates Most International Freelance Contracts Archived April 18, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. New York: observer.com. Accessed April 2015.
  14. Keith J. Kelly (February 14, 2014) Former execs sue Blouin Media Archived June 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. New York Post.
  15. Keith J. Kelly (December 2, 2016) Louise Blouin falls behind on paying dozens of freelancers Archived November 13, 2017, at the Wayback Machine.New York Post.
  16. Nate Freeman (January 4, 2017) Scott Indrisek Out As Modern Painters Editor-In-Chief, As Louise Blouin Media Sees Prominent Departures Archived February 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine ArtNews.
  17. Keith J. Kelly (January 5, 2017) Art & Auction exec ‘voluntarily’ leaves company Archived October 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine.New York Post.
  18. Keith J. Kelly (January 21, 2017) Louise Blouin Media having money troubles yet again Archived November 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. New York Post.
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